Gene Cordova, of Cordova Creative, is a ventriloquist by trade and an evangelist by calling.

In its 25th year of operation, Cordova Creative appeals to any kind of audience. Gene Cordova and his wife Fawn relocated to LaFollette six years ago from Seattle, Wash. They wanted to be more centrally located. They have since made the area a restful place to stay in between traveling the United States.

“I was never called to pastor a church,” said Cordova about his ministry. “We are all made for different things.”

In a budget cycle when Jeff Marlow, county finance director, is recommending a 13 cent tax increase just to maintain last year’s level of operation county commissioners were asked to consider increasing one department’s budget on Monday night.

Now knee deep in the budget development process, the group met in a budget and finance session early this week to discuss and vote on the 2010-11 budget for the county’s highway department.

An alleged attempt to collect a debt led to attempted second-degree murder charges.

On Tuesday afternoon Bobby Carl Hamblin, 53, of 214 Sawmill Circle, allegedly went to Tracy’s Tires on Old Jackboro Highway in an attempt to collect money from the business’ owner Tracy Hill.

According to LaFollette Police Det. Lt. Jeff Allen, when Hamblin was unsuccessful at getting the money he allegedly pulled a knife stabbing Hill twice in the left side of his chest and once in the right side of his chest. Hamblin also allegedly cut Hill on the left arm.

Sheriff Robbie Goins has actively faced the challenges in his administration.

“We have got to get officers in cars and get them in neighborhoods,”
Goins said during a morning briefing with his Chief Deputy Jonathan Finley and Lynn Goins, the department’s fleet supervisor, last Thursday.

The briefing was just one of many meetings he held throughout the long day.

At the root of one of the particular issues he faced on this morning was ensuring each of his officers had a fully equipped patrol unit.

From behind a handheld mirror Susan Kitts glimpses with a mischievous smile. “This is not something I would normally do,” she says grinning.

That something is taking an hour out of her day to indulge in a makeup lesson. Kitts is not a woman prone to spoiling herself. In recent years she has spent days caring for her ailing mother. She has also stood beside her husband as he battled cancer.